Forthcoming product - thin motor/DCC wire

[Paul Willis]

I'm very pleased to announce a new product that has arisen directly from the discussions on this Forum.

Following the discussion of motor wiring, and the general (lack of) availability of very fine wire useful for motor feeds or DCC chips, a Society member has made inquiries towards obtaining bulk supplies. Working together with Jeremy, our ceaseless Stores Officer, packs of a more reasonable size for individual modellers have been produced.

These wires will be sold in packs of two colours: either Red/Black, or Orange/Blue.

Each pack will contain approximately 1 metre of each colour. The wire grade is referred to as "7/40", and is approximately 0.5mm in diameter.

The Stores price will be £2.50 per pack of 2 x 1m, plus your usual postage charge. This appears to be markedly cheaper than the offerings on certain well-known internet auction sites. Or save the postage charge and come and see us at Scaleforum...

Stores is currently waiting for the batches to arrive, and we hope to have the packs of wire available for purchase in mid-September.

Cheers
Paul Willis
Marketing Manager

[essdee]

Well done, gents,

A simple but enormous boon for all who tackle the older/more compact prototypes - how often have we cussed at those pickup connections that snag between motor and boilefirebox/chassis?!

Deserves to sell very well; a goodly supply goes on my list for 28th Sept.

BW

Steve

[Jol Wilkinson]

Can I have a pack of red/grey to match LNWR loco lining

[Paul Willis]

Can I have a pack of red/grey to match LNWR loco lining

Only if you by two packs, and promise to give the leftovers to some poor unfortunate that models things that are Green With Rivets...

Flymo
(PS - nice to see you back from your travails in Eastern Europe. I thought about popping along to NEEAG last night but was pretty knackered to drive . Were you there?)

[Paul Willis]

Apologies to all. A cock up on my part meant that I mis-read the original message that I received.

The second pack will be orange and BLUE, not grey. I've been informed that we weren't able to obtain grey wire, although possibilities are being explored still for a second batch.

Whilst this won't match exactly the four primary colours of DCC chips' wiring (which was my erroneous assumption) it should still prove very useful.

Cheers
Paul Willis

[DougN]

Just so people know? TCS do a mini plug pack that might be good to add to the hook up wire! I am not sure is they are available I the UK. I saw them last week end at the exhibition here in Melbourne

[Paul Willis]

Just so people know? TCS do a mini plug pack that might be good to add to the hook up wire! I am not sure is they are available I the UK. I saw them last week end at the exhibition here in Melbourne

Hi Doug,

Do you mean this? http://tcsdcc.com/public_html/Zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=319

I had a go at that, as posted here: http://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19805#p19805.

The general observation, commented on by you that I agree with wholeheartedly, is that it was a bit of a pfaff for very little benefit. I could see them being useful in (say) loco to tender connectors, but other than that it just creates a further space problem to fit it all in.

Sorry!
Flymo

[Jol Wilkinson]

Can I have a pack of red/grey to match LNWR loco lining

Only if you by two packs, and promise to give the leftovers to some poor unfortunate that models things that are Green With Rivets...

Flymo
(PS - nice to see you back from your travails in Eastern Europe. I thought about popping along to NEEAG last night but was pretty knackered to drive . Were you there?)

Paul,

I only went in to the Ukrain the imagination of a naughty man and his computer in Nigeria. I have declined any further offers from him by amending access to my email contacts folder (after he had already emptied it).

I have so far received only one offer of help, from Gary at 247 who kindly emailed me a photocopy of a nine pound note. It isn't legal currency in Suffolk but they might take it in Essex.

The NEEAG enjoyed a good get together last night. We explored both ends of the modelling spectrum, with a demonstration of an Avonside Chassis jig and and inspection of the carriage included as a "getcher" in the Your Model Railway Village partwork magazine, as well as various bits in between.

Jol

[DougN]

Welll um yes Flymo, they are the ones... I just had not seen them locally. On the issue of chips I have just installed a TCS Z chip in my black Hawthorn... yes it will fit quite easily in front of the motor in the boiler/tank area. they are so small I can see no reason why any one would say there is any loco that can't be so fitted any more!

[grovenor-2685]

I only went in to the Ukrain the imagination of a naughty man and his computer in Nigeria. I have declined any further offers from him by amending access to my email contacts folder (after he had already emptied it).

I have so far received only one offer of help, from Gary at 247 who kindly emailed me a photocopy of a nine pound note. It isn't legal currency in Suffolk but they might take it in Essex.

Jol

Here's one you can email off to the Nigerian gentleman, he can print a few so he feels richer.
Keith

dollars.jpg

[Chris Mitton]

Hi all

Now we can get suitable wire for our motors, please can anyone put me in the way of some connectors to go on the end, small enough to clip onto the tags on a Mashima so that I can (a) detach the motor for maintenance and (b) not risk cooking it while soldering the wires on?

Regards
Chris

[David Knight]

Hi all

Now we can get suitable wire for our motors, please can anyone put me in the way of some connectors to go on the end, small enough to clip onto the tags on a Mashima so that I can (a) detach the motor for maintenance and (b) not risk cooking it while soldering the wires on?

Regards
Chris

Chris,

I've found that rail joiners for code 55 rail are about the right size. ISTR that N scale ones work too.

HTH

David

[Chris Mitton]

Thanks for the tip David, I'll try that one out next time I'm passing my local model shop.
Regards
Chris

[Chris Mitton]

Hi all

Now we can get suitable wire for our motors, please can anyone put me in the way of some connectors to go on the end, small enough to clip onto the tags on a Mashima so that I can (a) detach the motor for maintenance and (b) not risk cooking it while soldering the wires on?

Regards
Chris

.....and a further difficulty for my poor tired old eyes.....can anyone tell me a reliable method of stripping off a few mm of the insulation on these very fine wires without damaging the fragile conductors? I find the plastic insulation is quite slippery and difficult to grip.

Regards
Chris

[Re6/6]

Here's one you can email off to the Nigerian gentleman, he can print a few so he feels richer.
Keith

dollars.jpg

[/quote]

Here's a much more valuable one Keith!

z $.JPG

[Paul Willis]

Hi all

Now we can get suitable wire for our motors, please can anyone put me in the way of some connectors to go on the end, small enough to clip onto the tags on a Mashima so that I can (a) detach the motor for maintenance and (b) not risk cooking it while soldering the wires on?

Regards
Chris

.....and a further difficulty for my poor tired old eyes.....can anyone tell me a reliable method of stripping off a few mm of the insulation on these very fine wires without damaging the fragile conductors? I find the plastic insulation is quite slippery and difficult to grip.

Hi Chris,

You need to invest in a pair of the Xuron wire-cutters.

IMG_8064.JPG

The knurled wheel at the bottom means that you can set it for some very exact, and small, apertures. That can cut through the sleeve and leave the wire intact.

I swear by these, and I've had no issues since using them with any DCC wires.

HTH
Flymo

[nigelcliffe]

Quality cutters, like the ones Flymo shows, certainly help.

But, compared to some other fine wire, I too am finding that the stores fine wire is difficult to strip reliably; either a conductor or two breaks (or at least dents and becomes weak), or the insulation doesn't come away cleanly.

I have a small tub of little scraps of decoder wire, and some is preferred to others on ease of stripping, flexibility and actual external diameters.


- Nigel

[Wizard of the Moor]

To strip thin wire easily, use a razor saw blade and a green cutting mat.

Lay a length of wire on the mat. Trap the end to be stripped under the saw blade such that the wire is between two teeth. Hold the blade firmly and pull the other end of the wire.

Some experimentation will determine the right size of saw teeth and how much pressure to apply on the blade.

[Tony W]

The problem is that wires frequently need to be stripped in situ. Mike Bolton, of MERG fame, recently showed me that, for thin wire, strippers were completely unnecessary as he went on to use his soldering iron for this purpose. When I suggested that such action would mess up the bit he merely wiped it on the sponge and proceeded to use it for soldering!The key, as always, seems to be getting in and out quickly with the iron. Since I saw the technique for myself I know that it works......!

Tony

[Andy W]

Or use a lighter - just hold the wire in the flame for a few seconds then scrape off the charred coat. No residue on an iron nor danger of cutting the core wires.

[David Thorpe]

I use my teeth. I've been blessed with a gap between my top front incisors and canines that has proved perfect for stripping wires of various dimensions This method has served me well for decades without any adverse effect on my teeth. (As well to make sure there's no current running through the wire first, of course!)

DT